The Experience Machine @ Ikkan Art Gallery

Featured on LuxArtAsia, Sep 19, 2012

POSTED BY SONIA KOLESNIKOV-JESSOP ON 19 – SEP

Rather than being the sole creators of a work of art, new media artists often offer audiences the opportunity to interact with and contribute to their artworks. “What a Loving, and Beautiful World” by Japanese calligrapher Sisyu and teamLab is such a piece where slowly falling kanji (the Chinese characters used in Japan) for words like ‘rain,’ ‘flower’ and ‘butterfly’ transform when touched by a viewer’s shadow to become the image of the word they represent while a corresponding sound is heard.

This interactive animation installation, which combines projections with motion sensors in a darkened room, is a completely immersive experience, set — as the title suggests — in a beautiful world where rainbows appear after rain showers and butterflies snuggle up to flowers. It is also a very ephemeral experience which constantly changes. As in the natural world there are no identical moments thanks to 22 kanji falling randomly and interacting differently depending on how they meet (for example the butterflies flying toward flowers will change their course if a fire suddenly appears in front of them).

The work is part of “The Experience Machine,” an exhibition dedicated to New Media at Ikkan Art Gallery, which include a selection of works by nine international artists: Bea Camacho, John Gerrard, John F. Simon Jr., Jim Campbell, Morimura Yasumasa, SISYU+teamLab, Vuk Ćosić, Ben Rubin and Miao Xiaochun.